In June, last year, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun came to the expected terminus of his job as national chair of the All Progressives Congress (APC), having spent about four years in the saddle. Very early under his leadership of the party, precisely in June 2015, Oyegun’s leadership demonstrated a lack of capacity, political sagacity and strategic nimbleness to push through the party’s anointed candidates for the positions of Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives. For as long as Oyegun was in the saddle, the opposition group in the APC-controlled National Assembly comfortably unsettled the party from within, making governance,…
Author: Sufuyan Ojeifo
These have not been the best of times for Senator Elisha Cliff Abbo (Adamawa South), an otherwise sedate but highly fecund personality, who has been in the eye of the storm since a video in which he was seen slapping a woman attendant in a shop in Abuja went viral, sparking countrywide contempt. The incident, which purportedly happened many months before the inauguration of the 9th Senate of which he is a first-time member, has become a cause of action in a Magistrate Court, Zuba, where he was charged with assault by the Police but granted N5 million bail and…
By making public the contents of his asset declaration form submitted at the Oyo State office of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) in Ibadan on Monday, July 15, 2019, Governor Seyi Makinde has, on the double, fulfilled one of his many campaign promises. That action counts for something in the overall appreciation of the bigger picture of keeping fidelity to the social contract; and, that perhaps, explains the accolades that have trailed the act. The philosophy that roused Makinde’s essential motion in the direction of keeping faith with what appears to be a simple promise must be largely humanistic…
I had already penned my article, titled: “A case for unity government in Edo state”, before the reports that did the round in the media in which the Oba of Benin, Ewuare II, was quoted to have said that he tried to resolve the Edo Assembly crisis but that it kept escalating. For instance, Saturday Sun of July 13, 2019 at page 10 specifically quoted the Oba thus: “Like I told (President) Buhari, I have on my own been talking to both parties concerned; Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and the incumbent governor, Godwin Obaseki on separate occasions, but things have kept…
Intra-party crises in the Edo State Chapter of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) have festered beyond redemption. This was writ-large in the state government-sponsored rally by Edo groups in support of Obaseki’s re-election in Benin last Thursday. The event, where Obaseki gave the other camp in the APC side swipes, came on the heels of the visit to President Muhammadu Buhari, penultimate week, by the Edo State Council of Traditional Rulers and Chiefs, led by Oba Ewuare 11. The royal fathers had appealed to Buhari to intervene in the intra-party crises that had affected governance. Interestingly, Obaseki is acting as…
The Edo State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) under the leadership of the State Chairman, Chief Dan Orbih, for all of eight years that Comrade Adams Oshiomhole was in the saddle as governor, harangued him over security votes and their deployment in dealing with flash points and other security issues in the state. The purport of PDP’s relentless exertion in putting the Oshiomhole administration on its toes on security votes was to hold him accountable to the people. To be sure, security votes are usually spent at the discretion of state governors, who are chief security officers of…
The race to Bayelsa State Government House at the Creek Haven in Yenagoa has begun, symptomatic of another ritual of installing a new governor. It also has a signification: a time to interrogate the antecedents of aspirants/candidates and conveyance of political promises to both the electorate and the citizenry in a usually aggressive and blistering electioneering. By the medium of political intellection and communication, people’s hope for good governance is always raised; but, subsequently, almost consistently shattered and battered both in comparative and relative terms as it has been the lot of successive administrations in the state. But a reflective citizenry and a…
A prominent member of the Federal House of Representative Hon. Oluwole Oke (Oriade/Obokun Federal Constituency, Osun State/PDP) has reacted to the Supreme Court ruling on the Osun election, which gave judgement to the All Progressive Congress (APC) Candidate, Mr. Gboyega Oyetola, urging Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members to remain steadfast and return to the drawing board against the future. Hon. Oke spoke in Abuja Friday in the wake of the apex court judgement emphasizing that although the decision of the highest court in the land came against their hopes, desires and expectations, PDP members should however be consoled and remain…
The ballyhoo over “ruga settlements”, which the Ministry of Agriculture wanted to mischievously deploy in supplanting the original and scripted National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP), was a measure of Nigerians’ edification, intelligence, patriotism and resilient contempt for and passionate disapprobation of the policy. Tension had dramatically dissipated following President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to terminate the policy on account of its conceptual fraud and puckish push by the confederates of masterminds and implementers whose motivation has yet to be located within any patriotic rationale and essential goodness of the Nigerian nation-state. But at least, the “ruga settlements” policy has been upended…
I have read different narratives about the conceptualization of “ruga settlements” for Fulani herdsmen. To be sure “ruga” is said to be a Fulani word for village. There have been arguments for and against the initiative of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. The issue has become so emotive that the nation is being pulled apart in different directions. The centre is fast giving way and except there is a holistic review of the policy, the nation may just have sat on a tinderbox with the potential to explode. Interestingly, there is dalliance in the Presidency over the issue. Ordinarily, the…
The nation has taken note of the poorly-choreographed shenanigans by the Edo state governor, Godwin Obaseki, through a facilitated coup executed by five or nine of the 24 APC members that comprise the State House of Assembly. Obaseki and his camp had resorted to a gangsterish operation of forcefully “arresting” or “abducting” members of the other camp. The “arrest” was to force them to attend the divisive inauguration held on Monday, June 17, while the “abduction” was to get them into the chambers to take the hemlock of forced swearing in. The controversial speaker, Frank Okiye, and his cohort have burdened…
The appointment of Festus Adedayo, columnist and member of Tribune Editorial Board, as a special adviser on media to the senate president, Ahmad Lawan, and the sudden withdrawal of the same, evidently against Lawan’s will, in response to the mordant recriminations by a tribe of incorrigible leaders and members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) present the clearest indication yet of how Lawan’s philosophical inspiration to contribute to pax-Nigeriana, using the platform of the senate presidency, is on the edge of existential backlashes of politics and ideology. To be sure, there can be no question at all about Lawan’s pan-Nigerian outlook. …
President Muhammadu Buhari’s second tenure began with a low-key inauguration at the Eagle Square in Abuja, a scenario that decidedly flowed from the President’s persona of prudence. His kitchen cabinet’s counsel must have also been contributory. The observance of June 12’s maiden Democracy Day edition drew from the same spirit. Unlike in 2015 when he ascended the throne with pomp and ceremony, Buhari, this time round, quietly jumped on the governance wagon; adjusted and readjusted himself in the driver’s seat, for another four-year ride, in a perceived attitude of somberness. The canonization of June 12 as Democracy Day is the…
I haven’t met the governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, before. My closest to “meeting” him is seeing him speak on television. I also read stories about him in the print media. Until anointed governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2016 election by his former boss, Adams Oshiomhole, he was hardly known in the state’s governance architecture, which Oshiomhole effectively and firmly superintended. Although, Obaseki was the Chairman of the State’s Economic and Strategy Team, inaugurated by Oshiomhole in March 2009, he was also hardly heard or seen because he worked behind the scene within…
The Deputy National Chairman (North) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Lawali Shuaibu, recently orchestrated a storm in a tea cup when he went public with his one year-old animosity against the party’s National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. He did that through an insidious “personal” letter, which was essentially designed to sensationally demonize Oshiomhole. But Shuaibu’s intended mischief could not be concealed despite the ‘stakeholder’s altruism’ which he celebrated as a basis for penning his warped narratives and about which he waxed sanctimonious. A copious reference to the role he played in the formation and registration of the APC…
The portfolio of Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) is the only cabinet position that enjoys express constitutional provision. Abubakar Malami who held that position from November 2015 to May 28, 2019, took considerable flak, much of which was grounded on neither facts nor logic. Given the local political temperament, a converse scenario would probably have been utopian. I assert the above within the context of the subsisting argument for separating the portfolio of Justice Minister and AGF. Assuming Malami attracted no criticisms in the course of executing his official brief, certainly, for want of something to…
The Guardian and Daily Sun leads of Monday, May 20, 2019 titled: “Senate leadership: Legislators disagree over voting method” and “Senate leadership tussle gets messy…Ndume, Lawan’s camps in intense lobby over voting method,” respectively, provide the basis for this article. The camps of Senators Ali Ndume and Ahmad Lawan, the two candidates who are probably more rambunctious in the race for senate presidency, reportedly showed their preferences for the voting method in the election of presiding officers when the 9th National Assembly is inaugurated on June 11, 2019. I used the words “rambunctious” supra instead of “front-line candidates” because there is Senator Danjuma Goje, who…
The ‘spoil system’ is part and parcel of Nigeria’s presidential democracy. It is anchored on the quirky winners-take-all principle with the furtherance of the political leadership’s selfish agenda as its primary motivation. Firmly accommodated in this scheme of political and economic patronage are protégés, cronies and apologists. In the process, dispensational nouveaux riches are created through appointments or contract awards. Successive federal governments had their peculiar records of deliberate empowerment of loyalists through privileged and sometimes, criminal access to public resources. Fingers are always pointed at past military administrations for evolving a culture of unaccountable management of public resources. It…
I do not look into crystal balls. That is not my preoccupation. I certainly lack the endowment of predicting the future. That enterprise is better left to the confident fortune-tellers. Agreed it is their forte, there is the possibility of their getting it wrong sometimes and such times could be moments of great national anxiety when the divine is summoned to duty to unknot identified tangles in the affairs of men. Regardless, the obsessed clairvoyants continue to indulge in their delicate trade. They foretell and are ready to take the glory or damnation for the precision or otherwise of their…
Still smarting from the national embarrassment of topping the odious table of states that have not been able to keep fidelity to payment of workers’ salaries, which are in arrears of many months, Kogi State is once more in the news. Again, for the very wrong reason! The three arms of government that should be meeting minds on how to ensure that salaries are paid are locked in a macabre dance. Governor Yahaya Bello has a beef with the Chief Judge of the State, Justice Nasir Ajanah. Although, the executive alleges gross misconduct against Ajanah, the truth of the matter…
A Yoruba proverb aptly says: “Bi ina o ba tan li ori, eje ko le tan li eekan”, meaning: “for as long as lice are common features in the hair on the human head, there will always be blood stains on the finger nails.” Inferentially, as long as humanity exists, circumscribed and regulated by law, conflict will flow from socio-political interactions and cannot escape arbitration by the Judiciary. Lacking judicial arbitration of feuds, civilization would descend to the Hobbesian state of nature and the law would be denied its stabilising, social engineering function. Proclivity for mischief in the polity by…
Whether or not it is true that dynamite comes in small packages is a matter for public contemplation. But I saw what approximated to the truth in the quote, attributed to an unknown author, after reading artist, hobbyist and literati, Jonathan Magistad’s response to it, wherein he said “amen to that! We little people are little balls of power!” Glasses-wearing Magistad is at home with his little stature but quick to posit that his small stature houses the magnitude of his intellectual power. Therefore, what he lacks in physical stature, he makes up for with his brainy exertions. He fittingly…
After nicking the historic presidential election victory in 2015, the All Progressives Congress (APC) was caught in the intriguing, embarrassing webs woven by its members in the National Assembly. That was at the point it showed bad faith in the zoning of key positions in government. Political parties and groups that had coalesced into a mega party to upend Peoples Democratic Party’s 16-year rule had justifiably expected to be rewarded through strategic accommodation in the power-sharing arrangements. But that was only going to happen on an inequitable basis. Whereas, sharing and ceding positions to the six geo-political zones had never…
Lord Denning, Master of the Rolls once said: “If justice were to have a voice, she would speak as the English judge.” Denning’s compelling submission underscores the character of the British judiciary and its philosophical underpinning of impartial offering of justice. All Britons are confident that it is the nature of English courts to dispense justice in its undiluted form. Perceptibly, that reality contrasts sharply with the Nigerian condition, which over the years, appears to have consistently declined, especially within the precincts of the lower courts. The Court of Appeal in Nigeria was, at an intersection, assailed by allegations of pecuniary…
A feeling of de javu in the Nigerian political milieu seems to flow from the Marxian anecdote that “History repeats itself, the first as tragedy and then as farce.” Ahead of constitution of the leadership of the 9th National Assembly in June, this year, this presents a real bugaboo, particularly, to the All Progressives Congress (APC). There is a historical context to the current anxiety within and outside the party. The constitution of the 8th National Assembly leadership in 2015 was a critical point of departure from the culture of suzerainty in which the governing party, with the majority seats in both Chambers, reins…
Congressional leadership stability is a key feature of advanced democracies, particularly the United States of America. This is anchored on natural progression by ranking members into positions reserved for “wise men” held in high esteem by their peers, respected by the executive and trusted by the people. In the US Congress, the progression rule has been institutionalised, resulting in leadership stability in the Senate and the House of Representatives. In Nigeria, there has been a measured attempt to copy the US Congress via pragmatism in recognising seniority and experience when constituting the presiding officers’ positions. The ranking rule has been…
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has won the majority seats in the Nigerian Senate – at least 62 so far of 109. It is therefore set to produce the senate president when the 9th National Assembly is inaugurated in June. A proclamation by President Muhammadu Buhari, after he must have been sworn in on May 29, will specify the exact date and time of the inauguration. But, well ahead of the inauguration, nuanced campaigns for the topmost seat in the National Assembly have begun, thus spawning anxiety in the governing party. The individuals, covertly or overtly, pushing for the position…
As the central bank and apex monetary authority of the country, the major regulatory objectives of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as mirrored in the institution’s enabling Act are to maintain the external reserves of the country, promote monetary stability, a sound financial environment and to act as a banker of last resort. In this strategic turf of central banking, the establishment must adroitly read and proactively react to a laundry list of fluid scenarios, which include geopolitical and trade tensions that unquestionably impact the dynamics of global trade. These strains often spawn threats to macro-economic stability and even the monetary policy footing of the…
Pending a Supreme Court verdict in the presidential election petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari remains provisional – or at best tentative. Both are potential winner and loser. The pendulum of legal victory could swing either way. Beyond the subsisting electoral umpire’s declaration, whoever receives the Supreme Court’s approbation is the president in the eyes of the law. But for the existence of the court and related constitutional provisions in the resolution of electoral conflict, the election would have been decisively won without recourse to legal redress. It would…
The dusts generated by the conduct and outcomes of the February 23 Presidential and National Assembly have yet to settle. The reason is that the presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, had indicated his intention to challenge the outcome of the poll at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal. To be sure, Atiku is not the only aggrieved candidate who is heading to the Tribunal. Many National Assembly candidates who reportedly lost the election had indicated the same intention. Therefore, the nation should brace up for legal fireworks within the six months that the Tribunals…
